Clothes rack



April 24, 15951 J. McoRMlcK 2,550,158

CLOTHES RACK Filed July 19, 1945 Fmr i PIE. 1

'ciated support and control means.

Patented Apr. 24, 1951 UNITED s'rA'rs ergst CLOTHES RACK J. Lynn McCormick, Indianapolis, Ind.

Application July 19, 1945, Serial No. 605,886

Ihis invention relates to a drying rack. Thev chief objectv of this invention is to provide a drying rack which, if desired, may be of portable and of enclosed type with rack elements positively retainable' in the collapsed or drying positions and by mechanism of exceptional sim- Another' object of this invention is to provide such a rack with a cushion device to cushion the movement ofthe rack elements in one direction.

The chief feature of the present invention re sides in ,the rack element or bar supporting means, its support, and the means associated therewith for normally constraining the bars towards dryingr position and the lock for holding `same therein.

A further feature of the invention resides in the dashpot ,cushion effective when the bars approach the drying position for bar movement slowdown to permit automatic locking.

Another feature of the invention resides in the manual control for the aforesaid means.

`Other objects and features of the invention will be set forth rmore fully hereinafter.

bars. being shown in collapsed position `and the` cabinet door being shown inrclosed position.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevational View of the supported ends of the rack bars, and immediately asso-v Fig. 4 is an elevational view ofthe upper end of` the manual control member and mechanism immediately associated therewith.

`In the drawings IU indicates the back wall of a cabinet having sides II, top I2, bottom I3 and front I4, the latter providing an opening I5 cl'o'sableuby door means I6 of the desired type. Such a'cabinet can be secured to a wall by any suitable means or detachably suspended from 'wall supports as desired and by suitable means 4 Claims. .(Cl. S12-300) III one end 2G (herein to the right Fig. 3) projects towards the side II and mounts at 39 cam member 2| between rail I8 and side II.

Pinned as at 22, or otherwise suitably secured to the cam, is a iieXible member or cord 23 (same may be metallic), which also is connected to spring 24 having its lower end secured at 25to rail I8. Thus shaft I9 is always constrained to clockwise rotation, see Fig. 2.

Rigid with shaft I9 and between rails I8 is a tiltable base having an upper plate 26, a spacing portion 2l and a lower plate 28, the latter projecting beyond plate 26. Between the plates 2li-28 and on parallel spaced pivots 29, arcuate- 1y arranged, are pivotally mounted drying bars 3Q. These bars normallyr hang down, see Fig. 2,

and when the base is released it is tilted clockwise and the bars are projected outwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, and when sol Vprojected the bars 3B may be moved Iaterally as desired or required for radialV spacing, as it were.

To cushion the projection of the bars` there is provided a dashpot structure comprising a cylinder 3l carried by bracket 32 pivoted at 33 on rail I8. In said cylinder is dashpot piston 34 carried by rod 35. Same at its other end terminates in eye 36 and same is accommodated and vconiined by groove 3l in cam 2| and anchored by pin 38. Pin 39 anchors the cam to shaft I9, all as shown in Fig. 3.

n As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, plate 26 projects upwardly beyond portions 2'I and 28 when the rods are lowered and cabinet closed. As shown in Fig. 2, a stop pin member 4! normally lies behind the upward projection aforesaid and serves to hold the base and bars in the collapsed position in opposition to the constraint of spring 24.

Mounted upon back I0 is stop block 4I upon which the plate 28 bears, see Fig. l', when tilted by spring 24. A third stop is provided .to prevent counterclockwise tilting from the extended position and thereby prevent dropping of the clothes, etc., on the bars. Same comprises a roller 4Z, see Fig. 4, carried by arm 43 pvoted at 44 upon a base plate 45 secured to the back III.

An arm 46 is pivoted at 46c to said plate and carries the stop pin 453 aforesaid. The arm has pivoted to it at 4l the upper end of manual control rod i8 that extends downwardly and usually terminates below bottom i3. It may, however, otherwise terminate in a cabinet exposed portion or connected means.

Arm 46 is connected by link 48a. or the like to arm 43 adjacent roller 42. Spring 4B is connected to the arm 43 in opposition, as it were,

and it is anchored at 50 to plate 135. Thus arm Q3 is normally constrained toward counterclockwise rotation, see Fig. 4, but this is limited by the weight of rod 43 and arm 46 for the latter overlies arm 43 at its upper and squared end 5l.

Accordingly, until rod 48 is elevated, the pin 40 lies as shown in Figs. l, 2 and 4. When rod 48 is elevated the spring 24 is effective to tilt the rigidly connected parts 26-27-29 and the bars l 30 clockwise, see Fig. 2, to projected or drying position, see Fig. 1. In this rod movement the arm 40 is tilted upwardly and by link 48a. the arm 43 is tilted clockwise against spring 49.

When the base and bars are spring elevated, the rod 48 is released and the rod drops by gravity. Spring 49 is then eiective, so that arm i3 moves from the dotted line position, see Fig. 4, to the full line position in which position the roller 42 overlies plate 26, see Fig. 1, to hold the base and bars against clothes dropping.

The parts are so arranged that when the bars are collected, as it were, said bars can be tilted Vdownwardly into the cabinet when the base is released romroller stop 52. This is in opposition to spring 26 and the base and bars are then locked in the collapsed position by stop 90 which yields upwardly, see Fig. 4, to pass the base forwardly thereof. Pulling down upon the collected extended bars, with a force sufficient to overcome spring 24, causes lever i3 to tilt clockwise, and eiect elevation of lever 49 and pin All, and will automatically effect base release. However, it is preferred to push up on rod i9 and pull down upon the bars to nest same in the cabinet for Ain this operation pin 40 is elevated to permit free p .sidered to be within the broad scope of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

l. Control mechanism for a clothes rack and like structure including in combination a pivoted arm, a second pivoted arm, the arms normally being disposed substantially transverse to each other, with the exposed end of one arm immediately adjacent the other arm, each of the arms being normally constrained for movement in the same direction of rotation, link means connecting said arms remote from the pivot portions thereof, stop means carried by each of said arms, and manually operable means for at least one of the arms.

2. In a rack structure a bar-supporting pivotally mounted means, means normally constraining said bar-supporting means in one position, cushion means for limiting the movement of the bar-supporting means into its constrained position, manually releasable means for holding said bar-supporting means in another position in opposition to said constraining means, stop and bearing means positioned Yto be operatively engaged by the bar-supporting means when the same is released to said constrained position and other stop means engageable with said bar-supporting means for maintaining the bar-supporting means in engagement with the stop and bearing means. 3. In a rack structure a bar-supporting pivotally mounted means, means normally constraining said bar-supporting means in one position, cushion means for limiting the movement of the bar-supporting means into its constrained position, manually releasable means for holding said bar-supporting means in another position in opposition to said constraining means, stop and bearing means positioned to be operatively engaged by the bar-supporting means when the same is released to said constrained position and other stop means engageable with said bar-supporting means for maintaining the bar-supporting means in engagement with the stop and bearing means, and means operatively connecting the manually operable means and the second mentioned stop means for simultaneous operation.

4. In a rack structure a bar-supporting pivotally mounted means, means normally constraining said bar-supporting means in one position, cushion means for limiting the movement of the bar-supporting means into its constrained position, manually releasable means for holding said bar-supporting means in another position in opposition to said constraining means, stop and bearing means positioned to be operatively engaged by the bar-supporting means when the same is released to said constrained position and other stop means engageable with said bar-supporting means for maintaining the bar-supporting means in engagement with the stop and bearing means, and simultaneously and independently operable means operatively connecting the manually operable means and said second mentioned stop means.

J. LYNN McCORMICK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 777,135 Coyner Dec. 13, 1904 969,025 Baker Aug. 30, 1910 1,698,677 Folkins Jan. 8, 1929 1,711,799 l Kuenhold May 7, 1929 1,730,119 Davenport Oct. l, 1929 1,880,532 Thibodeau Oct. 4, 1932 1,917,297 Hammer July 1l, 1933 2,020,392 Wood Nov. 12, 1935 

